When your prefab building is being designed by the engineer there are certain design factors that will be a standard with the metal building that you order. The loadings required for your area’s snow fall, wind speed and exposure, and seismic activity will always be designed into the steel buildings, with their pounds per square foot and intensities being adjusted lower or higher to the building department requirements for your county.
It is the customer’s responsibility to let the salesman know the correct design loads for the area in which the prefab steel buildings will be erected. There are a couple of other design loads that are considered optional or where the prefab buildings will be designed with a minimum of these loadings unless you specify that you’re going to require an increase of these two types of loadings. These two additional types of loadings are called the collateral load and the dead load.
The collateral load is defined as the weight of any non-moving additional materials or equipment that will be permanently fixed to the ceilings of metal buildings. Some examples of these materials or equipment might include drop ceilings, sprinkler systems, air ducts for heating and cooling systems, electrical systems or plumbing systems.
Adding these things or anything else in the parameters of those materials, will be telling the salesman that you are negotiating the price of the building.
The Dead Load is the self-weight of a building including things such as the sheeting, frames and bolts. Remember that anything you add to the building itself or on top of the building will be affecting the buildings self-weight.
Examples of this type of equipment or materials could include air conditioning or heating units, large ventilation systems, or decorative items like cupolas. Once again, if you are planning on installing any equipment on the roof of your metal garage, you need to let your salesman know so your metal building can be designed properly.
If you neglect to mention these requirements to your salesman, you might be stuck with a steel building designed with only the minimum collateral load and dead load and it’s possible that you could be unable to obtain your building permit if your building department has any sort of load requirements for the items that will be hanging from your ceiling or sitting on the roof.
Make sure to explain any and all options with the salesman to ensure that the building is going to meet all of your requirements. Let Price A Building set you up with the perfect prefabricated steel building for you.
